Maat

Maat is a collective residency and meeting program that explores the circulation of emotions within the artistic sphere, while reimagining the principles of coexistence necessary to foster more equitable and inspiring professional environments. The name stems from a fundamental deity of ancient Egypt—Maat, daughter of Ra—and denotes a commitment to integrity: to do Maat is to strive for irreproachable action.

Between 2026 and 2028, Hangar will undergo an architectural rehabilitation of its original warehouses. This long-awaited renovation serves as an opportunity to consider how physical reconstruction might also mobilize the tacit and intangible dimensions of the communities inhabiting the center. These works open a space to address the flow of affects, relational systems, and shared living, facilitating collaborative professional work while formulating tentative responses to the growing sense of pressure within our current context.

Maat proposes to address the emotional currents of those who move through and give meaning to institutions, acknowledging the compelling evidence that emotionality is a practical force defining institutional behavior. To this end, it outlines two initial premises as starting points for an undulating, open-ended trajectory. First, it seeks to catalyze a collective conversation that moves beyond the imperatives of optimism or happiness, recognizing that anxiety and malaise are often the result of systemic conditions that exceed individual responsibility. Simultaneously, it aims to gather experiences and facilitate the transfer of knowledge from unconventional fields, such as alpinism or the local branches of institutional psychotherapy. The program thus unfolds intermittently, alternating between moments of internal conviviality and public sessions with guests—a process of gradual navigation where the “temperature” and synthesis of each episode become vital to the development of those that follow.

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Graphic identity: Miquel Hervás Gómez
Typo: Elias Hanzer